The hugely deserved enthusiasm that met Rian Johnson’s crafty, infectious 2019 whodunnit Knives Out was of such frenzied intensity that it didn’t just launch a franchise, it helped relaunch a genre, one that had been mostly dormant for decades. It was the secondary proof, after the flat but more obviously commercial remake of Murder on the Orient Express hit big that crowds were eager to keep playing detective, even when expert puzzler Agatha Christie wasn’t setting the clues. Only Murders in the Building, See How They Run, The Afterparty, the upcoming Reunion and Retreat, all following.
Inevitably, more knives would be dragged out as well, the easy-to-franchise setup of same detective, different location providing Johnson with limitless possibilities, a liberating sense of creative freedom after the shackles of the Star Wars universe. In his absurd and absurdly titled sequel Glass Onion, Daniel Craig’s idiosyncratic sleuth Benoit Blanc heads to a private island with a new set of suspects and a murder that Johnson himself has already insisted critics keep quiet. Unlike the original, it would be a spoiler to even mention whose death is being investigated, an even twistier plot requiring an even more secretive review. What can be shared is that it involves an ostentatious tech mogul, played by Edward Norton, who invites a group of old friends, including Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr, Kathryn Hahn and Dave Bautista, to his luxury retreat for the weekend so they can take part in a murder mystery game.
